How you can help the unemployed.

[Liberal_in_LA]

• Help them network. Friends and family can be "invaluable resources" for job seekers, noted Linda Rolie, author of "Getting Back to Work." You may be able to provide job leads, practice interviewing techniques or simply help them brainstorm for work ideas.

• Listen. Author Michael Laskoff, who describes losing multiple jobs in his book, "Landing on the Right Side of Your Ass," said his first move after a layoff was "to seek out the one person who can patiently listen to the retelling of the whole wretched affair."

• Volunteer. Many organizations gladly accept help. A notable one is the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, which needs folks to assemble food packages for the poor and needy. No time to volunteer? You can donate food or give money instead.

• Donate clothing. Scores of organizations collect clothing for the needy. "Next time you do your spring or fall cleaning, keep an eye out for those clothes that you no longer wear. If these items are in good shape, gather them together and donate them," suggested the website JustGive.

last tip is to help build through habitat for Humanity

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-five-help-20111009,0,7791697.story

[PETRUS]

1. Thank you

Such help and care is essential. But please do not neglect the root causes. Unemployment is a symptom and we should both focus on the underlying disease as well as tending to the surface wounds.

[saras]

2. Hire them. Ask them for help. Barter with them. Include them in your community.

But above all, remember that they are people, people who have been betrayed. They are not some sort of defective charity cases, and they can detect that sort of treatment exactly as well as you or I can, because they ARE you or I.